The Adventures of Urag
by Slag-Heap
Summary: Urag-Gro-Halbard's adventures in tamriel.
1. Urag and the Siren

Hello I am Urag-gro-Halbard i am an Orc from the stronghold of Halbard in Valenwood. Every orc is trained from a young age to use the halbard, and that is how you spell it, I don't know how but when our signiture weapons fell into the hands of men, they wanted to call them halberds. I left my stronghold for the thrill of adventure wherever I might find it, taking odd jobs and doing favors for those across Tamriel.

I was employed to a redguard trade ship called the Blue Tide, i'm mostly doing heavy lifting, loading, unloading,  
that sort of deal. On one particular voyage we were going from Rihad in Hammerfell, all the way to Blacklight in Morrowind.  
There were a total of eight people on the boat, Me, the captain Orinar, five crew members, and the young cabin boy named Relaand.  
I was planning on either drinking myself into a stupor, or sleeping while we traveled.

Around the time we were sailing the coast of High Rock, Relaand was claiming that he saw a woman out on a rock,  
and that she needed help, when Orinar had walked over and had looked out, he saw nothing, for the rest of the day everyone on the boat was poking fun at him, saying that he was a hopeless romantic. He persisted that was what he saw out there but everyone blew him off.  
once we were in the Sea of Ghosts north of Skyrim the fog had set in, also Orinar had told us that we were going to go slowly and try to dock in Dawnstar. As I was sleeping in my cot on the deck I heard a quiet if beautiful singing and when I had prized myself up I saw Relaand walking slowly toward the edge, by the time i had ran over he was almost teetering over the edge, I yelled "Relaand stop!"  
Startled, he plunged over the edge, but not before i could grab his arm, he was yelling for help and i was straining with the effort of trying to hold him up. When Orinar had arrived to give me a hand I was sure my arm had fallen asleep, once we had Relaand back on deck Orinar's first question was how did he fall, to which neither of us could give a valid answer, as i was going back to my cot, I was still hearing that singing, albeit very quietly.

in the morning Orinar and two of the crew members had gone into Dawnstar to buy food, I was walking around the eerily quiet ship,  
looking for the rest of the crew. After a little searching I had found nothing and I needed to help carry food onto the ship, I was all but certain that some of our crew had gone missing. Orinar wanted to set out for Blacklight regardless as he wanted to get there before the traders go back to Balmora,  
nothing interesting happened on the way there strangely. In Blacklight Orinar traded for some expensive Balmora Blue, the good stuff, once we had it loaded onto the Blue Tide, we set out again back to Rihad.

As we were leaving Morrowind I noticed Relaand at the starboard side looking longingly out to the rocks and bluffs that were rapidly disappearing, I was still hearing that quiet singing. I was asleep while we passed Northpoint in High Rock, when I awoke to louder singing and what I saw on the deck of the ship made me do a double take. There sitting on the ship, was a beautiful singing woman Relaand and the last two crew members were walking toward her, in a trance.  
as I got up I saw her attention turn to me, she pointed at me and suddenly Relaand and the two crew members were running toward me, I did not have enough time to grab my halbard leaning on a crate before a crew member was bearing down on me, I had the strength to throw him into a pile of crates. by the time I had done that however the other crew member had jumped on my back, once he had me pulled down Relaand was trying to claw at my eyes, but then he was pulled off by Orinar and I was able to dislodge the crew member and throw him overboard. I turned to the siren and her face had twisted into a horrifying sneer, i payed it no mind however and charged at her, my halbard held high.  
by the time I had swung however she had vanished and next, i saw her standing on the bow of the ship screaming, it was a blood chilling scream.

Orinar had succeeded in knocking Relaand out and had now turned his attention to the siren, she was still screaming but was now running at a scary rate toward us she grabbed my arm and was screaming into my face, I had dropped my halbard. When I thought my head would burst, she suddenly stopped screaming and rolled off of me, Orinar had hit her in the back with an oar and broken it. Once I had regained my composure I looked over to see Orinar, brandishing a broken oar, pushing the siren back against the edge, I shouted for him and threw Relaand's scimitar at him, he caught it and quickly stabbed the siren in the abdomen, pinning her to the side of the boat.  
He ducked as I ran in with my halbard rending the siren's beautiful head from her body. She quickly slumped forward as her head landed on the deck, still sneering.

By the time Orinar and I had thrown the siren's body into the deep, Relaand and the final crew member had awoken, neither were under the effects of her song anymore but they both had bad headaches and Orinar allowed them to sleep for a while. Not much happened on our way to Rihad, but Orinar had put the siren's head on a shelf in his room.  
and he told me I could have a crate of Balmora Blue for my troubles, once we arrived in Rihad he told me that what happened on the ship could destroy his reputation as a good captain and I should not tell anybody, I had earned 1200 septims on this job, an extra 200. I was going to keep my trap shut anyway but i wont say no to a bribe.


	2. Urag vs Ghoar Shazh

When I was in Skyrim I had a job being a courior, I was on a trip delivering a letter from Falkreath to Jarl Kralder in Winterhold.

I was on a road on my way to Winterhold when I saw another orc fighting a bear, I noticed that there were several bear corpses around him. Once i'd ran up to the bear and hit it in the haunch with my halbard, the orc yelled "stop you fool!"  
By the time the bear was dead he was putting his weapon away and squatting in the snow. "What were you doing?" I asked, he replied "I, am trying to die the way that Malacath intended for all orcimer to die." You see in orcimer culture an orc must be killed,  
he cannot simply die, I knew why this old orc was out here, he was looking to die in glorious combat by a better being.  
"I'm sorry for spoiling your battle old orc." "Dont worry about it, the bear was putting up no fight, you may call me Ghoar Shazh."

Ghoar Shazh stood up and I couldn't get a look at his face, it was obscured by a hood, he had bandages on his arms, a sign of countless battles he had participated in and come out alive. "will you give me a good death to please Malacath? My honor means that I may not fight unless provoked, please, give me a good fight. I see that Halbard on your back, I know what stronghold that is and I know their prowess with such weapons." I was looking at his weapon, a sturdy if old looking iron maul, this weapon looked to have seen it's fair share of combat. "Fellow orcs do not joke with such things, I know your serious. it would be disrespectful to deny you."  
he drew his maul with speed I would not expect, and I pulled out my halbard.

Ghoar charges at Urag but the other orc is able to dodge his blow, his weapon got stuck in the tundra for a moment and Urag took advantage by stepping on the maul, Ghoar responded by elbowing Urag in the nose. Urag and Ghoar backed off, Urag bleeding from the nose,  
Urag went in with a flurry of halbard strikes Ghoar blocking or dodging each and every one, Urag eventualy was able to slice Ghoars arm open.  
Urag did several sweeping strikes, in witch Ghoar ducked or jumped over all of them, Ghoar then swung with a heavy blow aimed at Urags head,  
Urag moved but only slightly and still got grazed on the bridge of his now broken nose. "Come on!" shouted Ghoar which Urag responded by stabbing at him with the spiked pommel of his halbard, Ghoar dodged three stabs and then grabbed the shaft of the halbard. Urag pulled his halbard swiftly to the side in order to throw Ghoar who rolled in the snow and was back on his feet in a matter of moments.  
Ghoar let out a blood curdling screech and then flew into a berzerker rage and began a series of deadly downward strikes.  
Urag was blocking the blows with the shaft of his halbard, but they were getting stronger and stronger, eventualy splitting the halberd in half.  
"nordic craftsmanship? The damned thing snapped like a twig!" Ghoar shoulder-bashed Urag to his knee, Urag responded with a swift backhand that sent Ghoar reeling, his maul flying into the snow. they both stood up at the same time and ran quickly at eachother, at the same time, they began bashing each-other in the chest, Ghoar tried to throw his opponent but Urag countered into a shoulder throw.  
Ghoar lay there but not for long as Urag soon had him in a headlock, after holding him in it for a couple of seconds, Ghoar uttered the words "do it" whereupon Urag swiftly snapped his neck.

I was there standing over the corpse of an honorable warrior who would not have accepted an easy end. My halbard lay in two pieces,  
but i did not mourn it's loss, for I was to busy mourning the death of Ghoar Shazh. after i had recouperated I walked over and layed his maul on his chest I proceded to slowly close his eyes, and walk away from the scene of the battle.


	3. An Orcs Halbard

In Halbard, our weapons are a long polarm with an axehead on one side. their main benefit is their reach coupled with their decent enough power. No orc in my stronghold knows exactly when they came to be, they simply were. A halbard is what every orc in our stronghold must use.

uniquely for our stronghold if we were to leave Halbard, we are never allowed to take our weapon with us. Any orc who wants to leave the stronghold should bring the knowlage of how to make an halbard to wherever they go. This ensured that our enemies would be able to use our superior weapons and put up a better fight.

I got my original halbard made in the frosty land of Skyrim, by a nordic smith. he assured me that nordic steel is the strongest in all of Tamriel, so I bought it. This nordic steel halbard served me well for a couple years... that was until my fight with Ghoar Shazh.

In that fight i relized that nordic steel and nordic wood can defend against quite a bit, but a berzerking orc with years of experience... the damned thing snapped in two. I was able to win that fight through brawling but I would never trust a Nord smith again.

I traveled all the way to Orsinium in order to get myself a new halbard, thankfuly they knew how to make them already I found a trusted orcish smith named Gharol-Bah who agreed to make me a new halbard for a price of five hundred septims,  
I snatched that up while I could, as they dont usualy come that cheap. My new halbard is orcish in style, as such it has a shaft made entirely from aged, hardened, wood, and the two blades are created from the orc metal orichalcum.

I have been using this weapon for many years now, never bent a bit, i need to sharpen it rarely, but thats it all. Overall, your survival in this world comes from how much faith you put into the man who makes your weapon.  
i will never trust a nordic smith again, and i will always trust an orcish one.


End file.
